I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 397 Mary's Farewell

  Louis had imagined—how he would say goodbye to Mary.

   When he was assassinated in Dunkirk and was seriously injured, he was cursed at the same time. Even if he entered the inner world, he might not be able to survive. He imagined what would happen if he really could not escape the predetermined doom.

   Of course, France will still have a king, and his younger brother Philip, Duke of Anjou at that time, was also a wise and decisive child. At Louis's insistence, he did not become a deformed monster under the king's power as the Queen Mother and Bishop Mazarin had hoped. As long as he was given time and opportunity, he could become a king like Louis or better. -Louis will be secretly sent back to Paris, like their father and grandfather, to rest in the Basilica of Saint-Denis after a grand funeral.

   Although he regrets this, it is not unacceptable.

   Later, he got rid of the threat of death and curse and returned to his country, his world. He made France like a golden crown in fire. At the same time, he also imagined who should be at the helm of this huge ship should he have an accident - such worries only gradually dissipated until the Duke of Orleans showed his military and political talents.

When the young dauphin, Louis, is an adult, although he is not as good as his father and uncle, he is still calm and confident enough. Perhaps after Louis XIV, a gracious king like him will be a good thing for France and even the whole of Europa. Queen Teresa has a second prince, and the Duke of Orleans has an heir, so there is no need to worry too much about the future of the kingdom - so Louis rarely thinks about the ending that everyone will usher in.

Very occasionally, the king imagined that when he was lying in bed, with holy oil on his forehead, waiting quietly for the last moment in the prayers of priests and family, he would order Marie Mancini. Released from the Bastille room, said goodbye to her, said sorry, and asked the Duke of Colonna to take her back to Naples-although she could not be the Queen Mother of France, she could be the Queen Mother of the Kingdom of Naples (Italian Peninsula) , she may return to Gayola and spend the rest of her life in peace surrounded by misses and children.

  Louis never thought that Marie Mancini would die before him, and the lifespan and youth of wizards are far longer than that of mortals. As for his punishment for Marie - even though Marie Mancini was a prisoner in the Bastille by him, he did not cut off her communication with the outside world, allowing her to communicate with others and accept visits from others. Severely sees Mary as a sinner—speaking of which, Mary has no guilt—or, rather, her guilt is just an idea.

   It’s just that sometimes, a thought is already unforgivable.

   But more, as Louis hoped, and as she hoped, she stayed in the Bastille quietly, still because there was enough love between them.

  When Mary realizes that her love for Louis has become a threat to Louis, she will strangle it in her womb, even herself, she will never allow Louis to have such an enemy.

This can almost be said to be a tacit understanding between Louis and Mary, brewed from love, fermented in time and changing identities and responsibilities, similar to the strange and profound emotion between priests and sacrifices, Mary The devotees, Louis the receiver, thought they had seen what was going to happen in the next few decades—they were next to each other, but never saw each other, and while never seeing each other, they were attached to each other, missed each other... Perhaps as Louis had hoped, at the last moment they met, they would look at each other, laugh at each other's sudden old age, and then there would be eternal peace, one under six feet, one between the sun and the waves .

For the decades between the beginning and the end, she was in the room of the Bastille, and even if he was in Versailles, every day at dawn or dusk, he could feel her throwing from the distant tower. sight. Whenever a dove or a raven flitted across the king's hair, he thought, This is Mary's messenger.

  Like all vulgar mortals, Louis XIV thought that everything would never change, never change, at least not so quickly, so suddenly.

  —She was supposed to live a hundred years.

When Louie woke up, he still had the feeling of hot blood splattering on his cheeks—as if molten lead had been poured on his face, and the sharp pain almost made him sick if it weren't for the glimmer of hope...he would have cried--he was wrapped in a blanket and insisted not to leave his chair, or he would have passed out immediately (though Mary eventually woke up and threw Louie out The dream, but the dream did cause some damage to the king), he kept shaking, his lips were black, his skin was bloodless, but he couldn't hear that Mary was safe... At least he was absolutely not until the news that his life was safe. Will relax even a little bit.

  —She will save the day.

After the popularization of "Wizards", the speed of information flow is indeed much faster than before, but no matter how fast, the wizards still rely on ravens and pigeons, even if they use crystal **** and their eyes, the fastest raven. It still takes three hours to fly back to Paris - a letter from Barras' pigeons says that Marie Mancini suddenly fell into a coma four hours ago.

  From the crystal ball, Vesalius could see the waves passing quickly under the raven. Then sand, treetops and fields.

   He glanced at the king with a heavy heart.

  Louis didn't have the energy to observe the eyes of the imperial doctor or others. He leaned on the Duke of Orleans, and the younger brother held his hand tightly, as if to give him courage.

   - She'll suffer a bit, but she'll be fine.

"It's almost here," Vesalius said. He saw that the scene in the crystal ball became clear at first, and then brightly colored. Only then did he realize that the day had come, and most birds could not see clearly at night. The wizard's Ravens have been fed special nutrients and trained, but they still don't fly very fast at night. Now that the sky is bright, the speed of ravens has increased significantly... They can already see the reflection of the golden pavilion of Versailles in the distance. of brilliant sunshine.

  —everything will pass, decades later, this night is just a nightmare.

The raven was landing, a hand stretched out reluctantly, the crystal ball showed the sad face of Barras, the king's heart and body sank sharply, the Duke of Orleans and the Dauphin the little Louis were together He hugged him tightly, Louis' eyes staring at the picture from the raven for a moment - Barras' expression seemed to be able to give an ending, but people always do this, with ridiculous delusions - Barras walked towards the He opened the closed door, he pushed it open, he went around the table, he lifted the curtain, he stopped in front of the four-poster bed with the drape of the bed, and a maid who pretended to be a servant sobbed and slowly opened the heavy curtain. bed sheet.

This bed sheet is still new, sapphire blue, with the golden coat of arms of the Sun King embroidered on it by Marie herself. I don't know if it was intentional or not. Every face in the sun garland is smiling stupidly. Louis has seen it. , although he never passed by the Place de la Bastille as Marie expected, but he did see - those smiling faces, even silly, that seemed familiar to him, especially when looking in the mirror - and then we would Forget today, he thought, like everyone who is healed from misfortune.

   Then he saw Mary's face.

  —She deserves happiness.

Mary lay on her back with her hands folded over her chest, one might say, not looking dead but asleep - but Louis had seen so many dead, he knew at a glance There was nothing but a hollow body, a thing rather than a person, with a frozen smile on its face, and its skin like inferior wax.

  It has a wide ribbon wrapped around its neck. Mary never used ribbons like this.

"Pull that ribbon away." A hoarse voice said, and Varo Vesalius took a while to understand that it was the king who was speaking. At such a distance, it was not easy to manipulate the raven. He let the raven fall. On Mary, he swept the ribbon with his wings, and Balas understood its meaning wonderfully. He hesitated for a while before instructing the maid to remove the ribbon. The maid sighed deeply and untied the ribbon.

Under the    ribbon is a split opening, the blood has been washed away, and blood vessels and bones can be clearly seen from the opening.

  —How much effort did she use.

The king stared at the gap, motionless, even the most hard-hearted and the most irrelevant person could not help but feel sore eyes and chills in that scene - the Duke of Orleans could even feel his brother directly slumped in his arms, For someone like him who knows the inside story and doesn't know the king, he would wonder how Louis could be so rude and painful to a royal lady who had obviously lost his favor.

But in this world, Philip would say, no one knows Louis, his king and brother better than him—to many, the Sun King is a complete man, but as Louis XIV privately admitted, he was There is a big flaw on the emotional side.

   He only has great love.

   More correctly, his personal emotions cannot surpass his duties and authority as a king... He has love for Mary, but more of a guilt, because his love with Mary is not equal at all.

But God, the Duke of Orleans cried in his heart, if you don't want him to be Louis Dieudonne Bourbon, go on, don't let him suddenly become a mortal, don't let mortal anguish and pain torment him he! But as if backfired, the king suddenly straightened up, "Prepare!" he shouted, "We..."

Everyone in the cabin was staring at him, and they could almost predict the king's next word. He would order the fleet to return to Dunkirk, or Calais, or simply land in a nearby port, and then return quickly. Paris? It is understandable to say that in this assassination, although the king was lucky enough to survive, he was indeed injured and needed more careful inspection, stricter precautions, and more adequate rest - and to Marie Mancini , the more sincere and deep condolences of the first love of the king who is unknown to everyone...

   But suddenly, the person being watched stopped, his eyes filled with tears.

  Louis looked at them one by one, and the people who could accompany him in this grand parade were all important ministers and nobles. Prince Conti, Count Henry (King Ludwig I of Poland, son of Grand Condai), Marquis of Lois, Duke of Luxembourg, Colbert, Duke of Vendome... The people who can enter the room at this critical moment are even more important They cast concerned and inquiring eyes, no doubt, as long as it was the will of the Sun King Louis XIV, they would follow it.

  Louis closed his eyes. When these azure blue eyes returned to people's field of vision, Louis Dieudone Bourbon left, and the Sun King Louis XIV came back.

His grand parade has just begun, and Brittany, Provence, Lorraine and Alsace, even Flanders, and more are still waiting, watching, guessing ...for whatever reason, since he's alive and standing and talking - the parade must go on! This grand parade may even lay the groundwork for a victory or defeat before the inevitable battle begins... As a king, Louis XIV should have been prepared, and he was going to offer sacrifices.

  —she died.

   "The original plan remains the same," said the king. He pushed the Duke of Orleans, who did not back down, stubbornly rejecting the King's suggestion for the first time—Louis probably didn't know that his tears had passed over his cheeks and fell into the Duke's hands.

   "Let the Duke of Colonna return to Paris at once," the king continued, "finish the...after." The crowd bowed in silence, and then they watched the Duke of Orleans send the king back to his bedroom.

   "Did I read it wrong..." After everyone else had left, the Duke of Orleans and Bontang left the room together. The Duke looked at Bontang and said, "Brother's hair..."

   "It's white," said Bontang. "I'll dye him tomorrow morning."

   "I will deal with the Bretons," said the Duke of Orleans, enduring his anger and sadness. He pressed his chest and went out, leaving Bontang behind. Bontang knew that he should go to rest, but the tumultuous emotions doomed him to do so, he stared at the jumping candle - although Louis had said a long time ago that he was the first person to make a deal with the devil, and was attacked by backlash It is a matter of course, but it is impossible for Bontang to accept it so calmly!

  Louis and Marie, this ill-fated little lover can be said to have grown up under the watchful eyes of Bontang. To put it more arrogantly, they are Bontang's dearest people. The previous confrontation and estrangement between the two had made Bontang feel extremely sad. Now that she is dead, Louis is almost killed too. The most vicious thing is that this curse uses Marie's love for Louis and Louis' love for Marie. Except for Louis and the Duke of Orleans, the most angry person present is Bontang .

   "Wait," he said, and extinguished the candle.

   (end of this chapter)